Pipe-flanging machine.



- R. M. HUNTER. PIPE PLANGING MACHINE. v v APPLICATION FILED F'EB.8,1912. 1,039,94 Patented Oct. 1, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 a wuewboz v 'I whit teases R. M. HUNTER.

PIPE FLANGING MACHINE.

APPLICATION TILED PEB.3, 1912.-

Patnted 001;. 1,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

outrun sratrns earnnr oration.

RUDOLPH M. HUNTER, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNQR '10 PATTERSON- ALLEN ENGINEERING GOMPANY, A "CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

lPIPE-TFLANEi-ING MACHINE.

insects.

Specification. Letters Patent.

Patented that. t, tit-M126 Application filed February 3, i812. Serial No. 35,826.

fl '0 all whom it may concern:

liev it known that l. lti oonrn M. llun'rnn, a ClllZQIl ot the United States, and resident of Philadelphia. county of l. hiladelphia,

State of Pennsylvania. have invented an linprovcment in l ipe-l langing lvlachines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to machines for attaching, flanges to pipe and consists of certain improvements which are fully set forth in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawings which form a part thereof.

The object oi" my invention is to provide a suitable constructiini of machine for c):- panding the ends of pipe into flanges whereby-a firm and tight union is made between the two. and more specifically, my object is to accomplish this result by means of expanding diesoperated by hydraulic pressure without requiring a rigid abutment against which the dies are supported and held.

My invention consists in a suitable means for positioning a pipe flange combined with an annular sectional expanding die having conical aperture and a conical mandrel or arbor extending through the annular die for.

expanding the samcypower devices, preferably hydraulic. for simultaneously applying pressure to theaniuilar die and the arbor in opposite directions whereby the die is expanded; further. in means for providing a slight excess-of pressure upon the annular die over that applied to the conical mandrel or arbor for positioning the die upon the work at the moment of expanding the die; t'urther. in the means above specified when so constructed that the annular die and mandrel may be moved together longitudinally within the pipe.

My invention also comprehcnds details of construction which, together with the teaturcs above specified, will be better understood by reference to the drawings, in which:-- 1

Figure. 1 is a sectionalelevation of a pipe Hanging machine embodying my improvc uicnts; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same: Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation on line a -.1: of Fig. l Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the annular sectional die; and Fig. is an elevation of the means for o 'icrating the clamps removed troijn the. machine.

2 is the main frame of the machine and is provided with a housin 3 of annular form frame 7 having the spiral teeth as shown in Fig. 0. This frame 7 may be rotated in the housing by means of the hand wheel 9.

5 are a series of radial clamping arms guided upon the housing and positioned by the annular cap plate 4 bolted to the housing. The teeth of these clamping arms 5 engage the spiral teeth of the annular frame 7. The inner ends of the clamping arms 5 are providedwfih notched portions (3, constituting jaws for receiving and positioning the pipe flange 10 within which the end of the pipe 11 is inserted. By rotating the hand wheel 9, the clamping arms 5 may be moved outward or inward to support and clamp pipe flanges of various sizes.

18 is a hydraulic cylinder and is bolted to the main frame 2 with its central line axially positioned with respect to the clamping devices for clamping the pipe flange. This cylinder is of uniform diameter excepting at rear end 31 in which it is of somewhat smaller diameter. A piston 19 of trunk form works through the portion 31 of smaller diameter of the cylinder and is provided with a piston portion 20 fitting the larger diameter of the cylinder 13. 21 is a head which is clamped to the end of the trunk piston 19 to limit the forward motion of the piston within the cylinder. This pis ton 19 is provided with a shaft 16 upon the end of which. is ar anged the conical mandrel or arbor l5. Fitting into the other end of the cylinder 18 is a plunger 25, said plunger sliding upon the shaft 1.6 and forming a liquidtight joint therewith by means of the packing 27. The cylinder 18 is also packed at 26 about the plunger .25 to pre vent the escape of the hvd 'aulic fluid. This plunger 25 is extended toward'the arbor or mandrel and terminates in a flange face 17.

Surrounding the mandrel 15 is the annular sectional die 19. which is composed of segments held in annular arrangement by means of suitable springs 1-1. This annular die is also provided with ribbed portions 13 andthe radial flange portions 12 The annular die 19. is held in position against the flange 10 by the flange face 17 of the plunger 25, so as to position the die. within the end of the pipe and its flange. lVhen the mandrel 15 is moved within'the die 12, thesections of the lat-teare expanded outward and the rib 13 of said sections forces the pipe outward into the annular groove of I chine and assuming that the machine has the usual pipe flange.

It will be observed that the diameterof the piston portion which is connected with the mandrel 15 by the shaft 16 is the same diameter as the plunger which operates upon the annular die 12, so that if pressure fluid is admitted alone between .these two parts by the pipe 28 and valve 29 there will be an equal pressure upon the annular die 12 which will allow it to expand without material tendency to displace it in the direction of the axis of the mandrel. It will be further seen that, if water pressure is admitted by valve 23, whatever difference in pressure may exist between the plungers 20 and 25 by reason of the fact that the the work.

plunger 19 is of slightly lessdiameter than the piston 20 and the water about it is made to reduce the available power of the piston 20 in moving away from plunger 25, there will be a slightly greater pressure by the face 17 upon the die 12- and in a direction against the work 10 than will occur by the action of the arbor 15 in its action upon the die in the opposite direction or away from In this way; there will be just enough pressure upon the die 12 to hold it to the flange or work 10 which is held by the jaws 6 of the clamping arms 5, said aws being so formed that they retain the flange in proper position and take up the slight thrust due tothe differences in the plunger 25 and the trunk piston 19 and their action upon the die and arbor. When it is desired to remove the pressure from between the plunger 25 and piston 20, the turning of the valve 29 will allow the escape of the water through the discharge pipe 30. A pipe' 22 iota-11d a valve 23 are also provided for admitting water under pressure to the cylinder around the trunk piston and between thepiston 20 and the outer endof the cylinder through which the trunk piston 19 passes,

and the water may be allowed to discharge from the cylinder through the discharge pipe 24: by propermanipulation of the valve 23. It is also pointed out that while the shaft 16 is rigidly secured-and moves posi-- tively with the trunk piston 19 and piston 20, the said shaft is formed of two diameters, namely, a smaller diameter 84; where it passes through the inner end of the plunger 25, and a larger diameter 35 where it passes through a stuffing box 27 at the outer end of the plunger 25. It will further be seen that this plunger is hollow to provide a, water spacefrom which is extended a port 3.3 of elongated form along the surface of the plunger. This port is in communica- 5about .the trunk piston 19. 6

Considering now the operation of the majust completed the expanding of a pipe into a pipe flange and moved the conical arbor to the right, as shown, the valve 2) turned to discharge the water from the cylinder 18 into the discharge pipe 30 and the valve 23 already turned to permit water from the pipe 22 to pass into the cylinder 18 around the trunk piston 19. As this piston 19 cannot move farther to the right (Fig. 1), it is evident that the water will llow through the ports 32 and 33 into the space within the plunger 25, and acting upon the greater area on the inside of this plunger surrounding the smaller cross section 34 of the shaft 16, it moves the plunger 25 to the left so as to remove the pressure of the flange face 17 from the annular die 12, allowing it to move to the left. When the pressure of flange 17 on the (lie is removed, the valve 23 is closed. By turning the hand wheel 9, the jaws (3 will be moved away from the flange 10 and the pipe with its attached flange may be removed.- Assuming now, that the machine is in. this condition last described, a new flange is inserted in place and clamped by the clampingjaws (3. A pipe end 11 is then thrust through the flange and against the annular die 12. Valve 29 then turned to supply water under pressure to the cylinder between the plunger 2.3 and the piston 20. The efiect o'f this pressure is to force the plunger and piston in opposite direct-ions, but as the area of the plunger is greater than the available area of the piston 20 and trunk piston 19, it is evident that the plungcr 25 will first move outward and push the annular die 12 up to the position shown against the work, namely, the pipe flange 10 and the end of the pipe 11, and immediately tl'lercafter, there will be a 11lovement of the piston 20 and the trunk piston 19 together with its shaft 16 and the arbor 15, said movement beii'ig to the left of Fig. 1 and with the result of expanding the pipe into the groove of the flange. have here approximately the full power equal to that of the trunk :piston, 19 to expand the die in the performance of its work of securing the tube to the flange, only a small amount of power is utilized. for holding the dies to their position upon the work area of the plunger 25 made non effective owing to the employment of the shaft 16 extending through it, aside from the two diameters 3a and 35 of the said shaft 16 extending through this plunger and into the water Space within the same in which the While we- While the pressure from pipe 22 may be ap' plied constantly during the operation of the machine for insuring the pressure by the flange lliupon the die and work and for releasing this pressure at the completion of,

the expanding operation, the operator may, if he so desires, turn the valve 23 to cut off this pressure during the period of expanding, becausethere will be no tendency to dis place the die relative to the work and especially not afterthe die has taken hold on the work. It will now be understood that the work of expanding the die having been accomplished, it is only necessary to turn the valve 29 to permit the discharge of the wa ter fromthe cylinder between the plunger 2:") and the piston 20 into the discharge pipe 30 to enable the pressureof the water in the cylinder around the trunk piston 19 to move the piston 20 together with its shaft 16 and arbor 15 to the right. for relieving the an nular die of expanding pressure. The position of the parts shown in Fig. 1 will then have been accomplished. Aside from this act of releasing the annular die from the pipe, the water flowing through the ports 32 and. 33 into the interior of the plunger 25 will cause the said plunger to move slightly backward to the left relatively to the shaft 16 to relieve pressure upon the die 12. The edges 6 may be moved away from the flange 10 and thepipe with the flange withdrawn, It will be noticed that the" from the die.

sport 32 where it opens into the cylinder around the trunk piston 19 is such that it would be closed by the piston 20 upon the beginning of the expanding operation of the die 12, and this made so to remove the action of the water pressure within the plunger 25 during the expanding operation, this port being uncovered only when the arbor has been forced out of the annular die to the position indicated in the drawing, at

'85 ivhcreby it is automatically closed by the which case, the piston 20 will move to the which time the pressure upon the plunger 25 from the water supply within its hollow center is required to be made effective in moving the plunger inward upon the cylinder as a final operation of relieving all pressure upon the. annular die itself.

Where this port 32 is closed by the piston 20,

any slight increase in pressure within the chamber of the plunger 25 due to the shift ing of said plunger upon the part 34 of the shaft 16, would be neutralized owing to the fact that there is no packingabout the said part 3 1-. This arrangement of the port 32 piston 20 may be omitted, if so desired, so that the water pressure within the plunger 25 is'nn-iintained at all times. Atno time is the port uncovered by piston 20 to provide communication with the space between the pistons 20 and 25.

I have described the operation of the machine with the full water pressure supplied constantly to the cylinder around the trunk piston 19, and the manipulation of the apparatus aceon'iplished wholly by the adjustment of the valve 29, this of course assuming that the pressures in the two pipes 22 and 28' are the same, but it is evident that the valve 23 may be manipulated, if so desired, so as 'to relieve the water pressure from around the trunk piston 19 whenever the water is delivered to the cylinder between the piston 20 and the plunger 25, and vice versa, as the only time that the active pressure from the pipe 22 is required is after the expanding operation when relieving the mandrel from 'the die and for moving the plunger 25 to remove the pressure of the face 17 from the die. The operation of my inun-oved machine may be varied by still further manipulations at the option of the operator: For example, assuming that the parts were as in Fig. 1 with the conical arbor 15 just moved to the right and the plunger 25 just about to be moved to the left to relieve pressure of the flange upon the die 12, and that as soon as the pressure by the flange upon the die 12 has been relieved, the valve 29 is closed from discharging through pipe 30, we will then have-a solid body of water between the plunger 25 and piston 20, and also a solid body of water around the trunk piston 19 and with full pressure from pipe 22. Assuming also, that the pressure in the pipe 22 is only sufficient to apply to the flange 17 the amount of pressure required to hold it to the dies and wm-k'without straining the work and foructurning the plunger 25 when removing the flange 17 from the die 12, itwill then be understood that, with this lesser pressure constantly exerting' itself around the trunk plunger 15) and intermittently exerting, itself within the plunger 25wagainst the inner face thereof in opposition to the shoulder between the parts 34- and 35, if the higher pressure of water from the pipe 28 be turned on, the effectwill be to move thcplunger against the lesser pressure until the flal'ige 17 comes against the die and presses it up to the work, and thereafter this excessive pressure between the plunger 25 and piston 20 will cause thepiston to move to the left with the expanding operation of the (lies taking i place. To return the parts to their original pesitlon, 1t willonly be necessary to turn the valve 29 to discharge to the pipe 30, in

sit;

pressure to the pipe 28, such means being well known in hydraulic engineering and forming no specific part of my invention.

The characteristic feature of this bydraulic pipe flanging machine is, that providing a holder for positioning the work,

the dies are brought into position upon the Work and positioned thereby by the work in an automatic manner without putting any material strain upon the Work other than expanding the metal thereof, the excessive strain applied between the mandrel and the annular die being expended for the purpose ofexpanding the tube within the flange without material tendency to displace the die upon the work. The excess of pressure on the flange 17 to hold the die up to the work may be anything which the designer wishes, and may be varied by varying the sizes of the areas of the pistons and plungers, or by varying the extent of pressure by pipe 22 relatively to pressure in pipe 28, so that only the minimum pressure need be put upon the work in positioning the dies. The applicant is certainly not restricting himself to exact proportions nor to exact pressure, as those are liberties which the user of the invention may employ in adapting it to the particular work required. These points would naturally vary according to the size of the machine and frictional resistance of its parts, but the principles of operation would remain the same. It is evident that this characteristic featuremay be accomplished by various modifications of the character of machine herein set out, and I therefore do not restrictinyselt' to the details of construction herein described, as my invention will comprehend all modifications of 'the machine which will. accomplish these specific results and which may come within the scope of the claims.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a pipe flanging machine, the combination of a holder for the pipe flange, an expanding annular die, a tapered arbor for expanding the die, a hydraulic cylinder, a plunger Within .thehydraulic cylinder for applying pressure to the annular die in one direction, a piston or plunger for moving the tapered arbor in the oppositedirection, meanst'or supplying fluid under pressure between the'two plungers or allowing of its escape when necessary, and means by which the direction of movement of thejplunger or direction a piston or plunger for moving the tapered arbor in the opposite direction, means for supplying fluid under pressure between the two plungers or allowing of its escape when necessary, means by which the direction of movement of the plunger or piston and the tapered arbor may be reversed when thepressure is relieved between the two plungers and when the plunger for ap-' plying pressure to the annular die is stationary, and means by which the direction of movement of said last mentioned plunger may be finally reversed to remove the pressure thereof from the annular die.

3. In a pipe flangiug machine, the combination of a holder for the pipe flange, an expanding annular die, a tapered arbor for expanding the die, a hydraulic cylinder, a plunger within the hydraulic cylinder for applying prc:,:sure to the annular die in one direction, a piston or plunger for moving the tapered arbor in the opposite direction, Inca us for supplying fluid under pressure be tween the two plungers 0 allowing of its escape when necessary, means by which the direction of movement of the plunger or piston and the tapered arbor may be reversed when the pressure is relieved between the two plungers and when the plunger for applying pressure to the annular die is stationary, and means by which thedirection of movement of said last mentioned plunger may be finally reversed to remove the pres sure thereof'from the annular die the time of said action being controlled by the first mentioned plunger-or piston which ope ates the tapered arbor whereby after the expanding operation the tapered arbor is first moved backward to allow the annular die to collapse and then the pressure upon the annular die which holds it to the work is re lieved.

. at. In a pipe Hanging machine, the combination of means for holding a pipe flange, with an annular expanding die formed of sections having a laterally projecting flange to rest against the pipe flange, a tapered arbor extending through the annular expanding diefor expanding it, and separate power applying means for simultaneously applying pressure upon the annular expanding die and the tapered arbor in opposite directions, whereby said die may be expanded within the work without necessity for any other support but the work and the power applying devices.

5. In a pipe Hanging machine, the combi nation of means for holding a pipe flange, with an annular expanding die formed of sections having a laterally projecting flange to rest against the pipe flange, a tapered arbor extending through the annular expanding die for expanding it, and separate power applying means tor simultaneously applying pressure upon the annular expanding die and the tapered arbor in opposite directions but in which the power applying devices acting upon the annular die apply a pressure in one direction slightly in excess of the pressure applied upon' the tapered mandrel in theop osite direction to position the die upon the flange constituting the work during the expanding operation, whereby said die may be expanded within the work without necessity for any other support than the work and the power applying devices. v

6. In a pipe tlanging machine, the combination of means for holding a pipe tlange, with an annular expanding die formed of sections having laterally projecting flanges to rest against the pipe tlange, a taperedarbor extending through the annular expanding die for expanding it, a cylinder, :1 plunger in said cylinder having an extension resting upon the annular expanding die, a second plunger arrangedin the cyl'-- inder and having an extension connecting with the tapered arbor, and means for eon- ,trolling the admission of a fluid to and its discharge from the cylinder between' t he plungers.

7. In avpipe tlanging machine, the combination of means for holding a pipe flange.

with an annular expanding die formed of sections having laterally projecting llanges' to rest against the pipe flange, a tapered arbor extending thrt-nigh the annular expand ing die for expanding it, a cvlinder, a plunger in said cylinder having an extension resting upon the annular expanding die, a second plungerarranged in the cylinder and having an exten ion connecting with the tapered arbor. means for controlling the admission of a tluid to and its discharge from the cylinder between' the plungers. and means controlling a tluid lor positively moving the plungcrs toward each other for removing pressure upon the annular die. 8. In a pipe Hangingmachine, the combi- .unto set my hand.

plungers, and means controlling a fluid for positively moving the plungers toward each other for removing pressure upon the annular die in succession, said movement taking place first in the plunger with the tapered arbor and then with the plunger aeting upon the annular die.

9. In a pipe flanging machine, a flange holder consisting of an annular housing with radially movable jaws guided therein and a rotatable frai'ne having spiral teeth engaging the radially movable jaws to simultaneously move them radially, combined with an annulai die arranged within the housing and centrally in respect to the radially movable jaws, a tapered arbor for expanding said die and power devices for simultaneously applying pressure upon the. annular die and the tapered arbor in re speetivcly opposite directions. i

It). In a pipe Hanging machine, means for holding the pipe llange, an annular expand ing die for expanding the pipe Withinthe flange, a tapered arbor extending through the annular die for expanding it, and simultaneously acting power devices for holding the annular die against the work with slight positioning pressure when applying great pressure upon the-aimularmdie and tapered arbor in opposite directions, whereby the dies may be positioned by the work and the" expanding operation performed itpbn'said work without applying excessive displacing strain thereto.

ln testimony of which invention, I here- R, M. HUNTER. Witnesses: I.

lt. M. KELLY, E. \V. Karin. 

